Berlin is a BIG city!

After our – well really my – day in Stuttgart, our flight to Berlin arrived around 10:00 in the evening. We took the bus from the airport into the city and walked to our hotel. We stayed at the Arcotel Velvet hotel, which was a great hotel and a great location.

Even though it was late, we decided to make a quick stop for a little evening treat. Ice cream for me, beer for Todd!

The next morning we had arranged to go on a walking tour with New Europe to see some of the sights of Berlin.

One of our first stops was to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which is quite an unusual monument, but very impressive.

The memorial is fairly new, with construction finishing in 2004. It is composed of 2,711 concrete slabs, that from afar look to be fairly consistent in height. However, once you walk into the inner rows you quickly realize that the assumption is wrong.

Not only are the slabs different heights, but the ground also went up and down in gentle slopes. Our tour guide shared with us some of the different interpretations of the memorial, but it seems like the real intention of the artist was to let people decide on their own what it means to them.

There is also a museum at the memorial site, which we did not have time to visit that day, but I definitely plan to visit on a future trip to Berlin.

As we continued our walking tour, one of the things we quickly realized is that Berlin is a big city – a very big city! We would walk for over 10 minutes just to get from one stop on the tour to the next, which is much longer than your typical walking tour.

One of the sights on the tour was this old section of the Berlin Wall.

Todd and I would be able to get a better view of the wall and some of its famous artwork later in the trip when we visited the East Side Gallery. Today, though, we just had a brief stop before moving on.

This is about as close as we got to the famous Checkpoint Charlie as it was swarming with tourists.

These bricks and markers are found all along the original path of the Berlin Wall. It was interesting to see that the remains of the wall are still very much a part of the city. Hearing stories about what life was like while the wall was in place were some of the most interesting parts of the walking tour.

One of the most interesting things we saw on the tour was actually underground!

Though it is a little hard to see in the picture, underneath the ground are bookcases that are there in remembrance of the thousands of books that were lost in a massive book-burning by the Nazis in 1933. It was such a unique and interesting memorial that showed a different aspect of the events leading up to and during World War II.

This statue was one of the last stops on our walking tour. It is a memorial to the victims of war and shows a mother holding her son. Perhaps even more interesting than the statue itself is the fact that underneath it are buried the bodies of a German soldier and an unknown concentration camp victim.

The walking tour was a good introduction to the city, but Todd and I both agreed that Berlin might be too big for walking tours! New Europe does have a number of specialized tours that you can take for a fee and we said it might be worth the small charge in order to get a more focused tour of the city, rather than trying to take it all in at once.

After the walking tour was complete, we decided to head back to our hotel to regroup. By this time we were also more than ready for lunch, so we decided to stop at the Indian restaurant, Mirchi, across the street from where we were staying.

We had quite the feast – soup, salads, plus our entrees. It was a very filling meal!

After our lunch we took advantage of our comfortable hotel room and relaxed and napped for a while. Then we ventured out in the evening for more food!

Our dinner destination for that evening was Burgermeister – the #12 ranked restaurant in Berlin according to Trip Advisor.

It might not look like much – in fact, it’s built in an old train station bathroom! – but the food was amazing! There was a long line of people waiting to order and even more people sitting around waiting for their food. When ours finally arrived, it was definitely worth the wait.

It is hard to find a good burger in Munich, so this restaurant was a much-welcomed treat. Plus, those cheese fries were amazing!

After our meal we returned to the city center and took a quick walk around, catching a great view of Brandenburger Tor all lit up at night.

Our first day in Berlin was a busy one and we had more on the agenda for the following day – there was a lot of city left to explore!

Who’s your penguin daddy?

Before we left on the trip, Todd had done a lot of research into the best ways to see some of the sights of Cape town. One of the best decisions we made was to book a driving tour along the coast line with Cape Convoy Tours. Our tour guide, Rob, was seriously awesome and it was by far one of the best experiences of the whole trip!

The day started bright and early when we were picked up from our hotel at 9 AM. Our first stop of the day was the Rhodes Memorial. Rob said that this isn’t always a place he stops on the tour, but it was a beautiful day and he thought we would appreciate the views – he was definitely right.

Shortly after leaving the Rhodes Memorial we were well on our way to the Cape of Good Hope. We got to see some amazing views of the coastline, stopping for a couple photo opportunities along the way.

While driving, we got to hear a little bit about the baboons of Cape Town. Apparently they are pretty notorious around town. At one point we even pulled over to talk to a “baboon spotter”. The job of a baboon spotter is to sit on the roadside facing the cliffs and look for baboons. Sounds pretty tame, except for the fact that they are armed with paint guns that they use to shoot at the baboons if they venture too close to civilization.

Before you start feeling sorry for the baboons and think that they are used for target practice, you should know that they are apparently considered quite the menace to society. Our guide told us stories of baboons ransacking women’s handbags, opening and eating bags of chips, and once even cracking open a can of soda to drink! Even though they might look cute and friendly from a distance, they can get quite nasty.

As we were nearing our destination, we were treated to this unique sight:

That’s right, our very own baboon spotting! He was just hanging out on top of a car, watching some kite surfers out at sea! Luckily he was happy to just sit and enjoy the view, so no baboon terror stories for us!

After our baboon spotting, it was just a few minutes more drive until we reached our destination. The Cape of Good Hope is the south-western most point of Africa and is quite a popular tourist spot, but lucky for us our tour guide was a pro and got us there at a time when it had minimal crowds. He dropped us off and gave us the next hour or so to explore – and explore we did!

After climbing around for an hour or so, we took a short drive a little further along the coast to check out two nearby lighthouses and some more amazing views. We even had another baboon sighting – apparently they really like cars…

It was very windy out so Todd decided to take off his hat so it wouldn’t blow away. This turned out to be a crucial mistake a few days down the road! (hint – no sunscreen!)

Our next stop on the tour was Boulder Beach to see the famous penguins! Again our tour guide proved to be a true champ. Upon arriving at the beach there were two viewing platforms from which to watch the penguins. While everyone else went to the first viewing platform, our guide directed us toward the other platform, which we ended up having entirely to ourselves!

Two things to notice in this picture: 1) the worker on the left is hosing down some of the penguins because they will literally sit there all day to protect their eggs and on this particular day it was pushing 90 degrees! 2) the super crowded viewing platform where all the other visitors went!

While checking out the penguins, we happened to notice this particular pair not too far away from us:

Shortly after I noticed them in what looked like a friendly little penguin hug:

And very shortly after that we observed them doing this (parents, shield your children’s eyes):

Yeah, I guess it wasn’t really a “friendly” hug after all! It was at this point that Todd coined the now infamous term, “Who’s your penguin daddy?”! After that, the rest of the penguins just seemed a little dull so after a few more minutes we said our goodbyes to them and headed on our way.

We had really packed a lot of sight-seeing into the morning, so by now it was mid-afternoon and time to stop for lunch. Todd and I enjoyed this view while having some beers and fresh seafood:

After lunch, our day of touring was nearly over. We did, however, get to enjoy the Chapman’s Peak drive, which provided even more incredible views, as well as completely renewing my fear of heights! Believe me when I say there is not much between the car and the edge of the cliff!

All in all, it was amazing day and one we were glad we did right away upon arriving in Cape Town. We had no idea the scale of the city and touring the coast was a great way to see just how huge it is! Little did we know we’d have an even better idea of the size of the city the following day when we viewed it from atop Table Mountain!

Krakow…Day 2

One of the great things about staying in hostels is that you get to meet so many more people than if you were staying in a hotel. While in a hotel everyone tends to keep to themselves, travelers in hostels are much more social and interactive. As a result, we spent our second morning in Krakow chatting with a bunch of fellow travelers in the hostel kitchen. The one thing that was recommended again and again was to do a walking tour of the city. So, at 11:00 AM we met up with the group for a free walking tour starting in the main Market Square.

The walking tour took us all over the city and covered lots of the history of Krakow. We also got to see some of the unique art housed around the city.

Giant head that you can go inside

Tribute to Chopin

Dragon from the legend about the founding of the city

We ended the tour at Wawel Castle, seated upon a big hill. Part of the castle grounds consisted of a church that contained over 20 different chapels and nearly just as many styles of architecture!

Once we wrapped up our first walking tour of the day, we headed off to the location of tour number two for the day! We were really looking forward to taking part in the walking tour of the Old Jewish Quarter. Since we had about an hour before the start of tour, we set off in search of some food. Our original thought was to visit the same dürüm shop from the night before, but since it was in the complete opposite direction, we went with plan B, which was to find a dürüm shop on this side of town. That turned out to be easier said than done. We finally found one, but it definitely didn’t fill us up like we were hoping. Luckily we found a nice little pub that had toasted cheese sandwiches for about a Euro. Between a couple sandwiches and some beer, we were fueled up and ready to go!

The tour started outside the old synagogue in Kazimierz, the Old Jewish Quarter of Krakow. We got lucky and were placed in the group with probably the best tour guide ever, Goisha.

In this case, our tour guide really did make the tour for us. She was an incredible storyteller and really brought the history of the area to life. We saw a few of the synagogues in Kazimierz and heard a bit about the history of Jewish people in Krakow. One of the more well known sights we saw was this courtyard.

If you’ve ever seen the film “Schindler’s List” then you might recognize the courtyard as the one from the scene in which one of the Jewish ghettos was being evacuated. Most of the film was shot in Kazimierz and there are tours guiding people to some of the various filming locations used.

It was fascinating to hear the stories of the Jewish population in Krakow, both past and present. During the second half of the tour we walked to the part of town where the Krakow ghetto had been located. At the time, the ghetto was home to 15,000 Jews, all living in an area that had originally housed 3,000 people. It was surreal, being in that place at night, listening to the stories of the ghetto. One of the most poignant moments came from when we visited what is known as Heroes Square. In the square is a memorial to the people of the Krakow ghetto. The memorial consists of dozens of large metal chairs, each one meant to represent 1,000 victims.

While standing in the square, our tour guide told us the story of the evacuation of the ghetto, and it was impossible not to imagine the terror and heartbreak the people living in the ghetto must have felt. It was a moment that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

The final stop on the tour was the factory where Oskar Schindler employed hundreds of Jews during the war, ultimately helping to save many of their lives.

We would highly recommend taking the free walking tour through the Old Jewish quarter. It was an incredible experience and even though it focused on a dark time in history, there was still a sense of determination and redemption that ran throughout the tour.

Once the tour ended, we made our way back to the other side of town via tram. We were taking another night train that evening, but still had a few hours before we needed to make our way to the train station. Plus, we had a whole bunch of Polish currency to use up before we left town!

Our first stop was the main Market Square to pick up a few souvenirs. In each city we visit, Todd and I are collecting a shot glass, a postcard, and a Christmas ornament as mementos from our trip.

After we procured our items from the market, we made a very necessary stop!

That’s right, cupcakes! Lucky for us, our hostel was located right next door to a cupcake shop.

You wouldn’t know it from that picture, but even Todd enjoyed the cupcakes! In fact, at the end of the night when we still had money left we went back to the cupcake shop and bought two more for the road.

After a stop at a pub to spend our last bit of money on a beer, we made our way to the train station and boarded our train. This one was ten times nicer than our previous night train!

Our train left shortly after 10:00 PM and before we knew it we were leaving Poland and on our way to Hungary!

While we weren’t quite sure what to expect in Krakow, both Todd and I agreed that it was by far our favorite city of the trip. There was something about its small size and rich history that just won us both over. It’s a beautiful city and one that we are so glad we were able to visit.